, on some banks in russia and some significant energy companies in russia in part to cause some damage, and president putin himself has said that the sanctions are causing damage. but also in part to signal that we are prepared to do more, to create really, frankly, an uncertainty in the marketplace, and that uncertainty is, in fact, punishing the russian economy. if you look at the numbers, and we can go through this, the gdp numbers, the stock market, the cost of borrowing from the russian government, it's all having a very significant toll. >> so explain how these sanctions, particularly the american sanctions, you know, that are really sanctions that do not allow these companies, russian companies, to in some way participate in the american financial system. why do you think they're so effective? >> well, they're very effective because the dollar is the dominant currency in which all international trade occurs. and when we impose a sanction on a company, that means that they cannot have access to u.s. financial institutions, to u.s. businesses or, really, to trade on the dollar. so